The Beginning of a New City
by Simoneman97
Summary: The whole population of Ember moved out of Sparks.  But little Torren doesn't want them to leave so he decides he  wants to go with Lina and Doon.  This takes place after The People of Sparks
1. Chapter 1

The Truck Ride

Lina looked at the lamp. The light bulb was still in it. She remembered the way Torren looked at her when he gave her the lamp. He shouldn't have given it to her. It was a special gift from his brother Casper, the traveller. A bump in the road in front of the truck made her regain her train of thought. They were all leaving to go somewhere. The outside land, where only Casper had been, no one else. They needed to find a new place to live and to rebuild their own town. Instead of using all of Sparks resources, like in the past. She couldn't believe that she was already referring to the town of Sparks as _the past_.

Everyone else in the truck were people she knew. Lina knew them from the city Ember. Now _that_ was past. No one else probably ever thinks about Ember anymore. She then reminded herself of what that lamp could be used for. Ember fell because of no electricity; especially no leadership! This light could be used to see and illuminate the darkness, and…

"Lina! What's wrong?" said voice.

She got up. She must've dosed off. The voice was Doon Harrow. Lina's friend that helped her get through the last couple weeks of Ember. She still couldn't believe that she couldn't forget about Ember!

"Doon, I have to ask you something." said Lina.

"What is it Lina?"

"It's about Ember! I can't forget about it! What about you? Do you ever think about it?" Lina was making a complete fool of herself, speaking loud and hysterical, as if something bad were to happen.

Doon replied calmly, "I don't think anyone thinks of Ember anymore. It's long gone. Besides, why didn't you bring up Ember while we all were staying in Sparks?"

"I don't know. Maybe the thought of living somewhere other than where I was born and raised all my life." Everyone on the truck was still staring. The two noticed and attempted to keep their volume lower.

All the trucks in front suddenly stopped, causing this one to stop as well. There were strange wild animals the people of Ember had never seen. She remembered the day they all arrived at Sparks and saw the little animals that they were caring for. Chickens… The people of Sparks looked at them like buffoons, like they were from another planet. This is how they were looking at the other animals in the way of the truck.

They looked like the wild horses Torren showed her that one day… Maybe that was it, a horse!

"A horse!" She randomly exclaimed. Everyone looked at her, strangely as she revealed all her thoughts with dialogue.

* * *

Torren couldn't take it anymore. He didn't like hanging under a truck that was being pulled by some clumsy ox. No one else knew he was there, but he couldn't let anyone find out. Torren was the only person on any of the trucks that was from Sparks. _He ran away._ He wanted to travel like his brother, Casper. He was a big role model for him. _What happened to my family? Is everyone okay back in my town?, _thought Torren. He couldn't bare the thought of losing his family. And the worst part of it would be that _he wouldn't be there.  
_

Torren was beginning to regret running away from his home. He wanted to return but they had traveled for about a day already and in that amount of time, who knew how far they were from Sparks? Torren was about to scream because the ride was taking so long. He began to wriggle his little body in discomfort. The knots at the end of the blanket holding him up began to give away and untie...

He toppled to the dirt and the truck behind his abruptly stopped. The drivers eyeballed him and yelled something to the back of the truck. The truck in front stopped too and very soon every truck was still in the pathway. Torren was being interpreted as a threat. But as two men came out to take Torren and began to ride one the wild horses back to Sparks, Lina popped her head out of the curtain of one of the trucks.

She saw him and hollered, "No! I know him, he can travel with us!"

The two men looked at each other as a way of confirming to let him go to her. And so they did. Torren ran to Lina very happily. He hugged her. Lina of course thought, _What am I thinking? This boy pelted me with eggs and tomatoes and now I accept him? _They continued to the truck where Lina was just at. They entered the back and sat near Doon.

"Stay here, Torren." said Lina. She scooted over to Doon and explained exactly what just happened. Torren thought to himself. He looked in the direction of Sparks and thought... All he did was think.


	2. Chapter 2

2. The Wolves

The trucks seemed to travel endlessly along the road. Nobody paid any attention to the time passing by. Many were hungry, many missed being in a home. Instead, Doon and Lina were proud of being chosen to lead the people of Ember. They were in the forward-most truck of course. Now Doon and Lina felt very...wanted, in a way. Meaning that all their people need help and support, and they have to give it to them.

Lina thought about what to do with Torren. She didn't know whether to send him to Sparks again, or keep him with her. Of course a fourteen year old could take care of Torren, and she also had extra help from Doon. _I think I can do this, I can take care of him, _thought Lina. She looked at Torren. How hard could it be?

"Torren! Come here!", yelled Lina. Torren turned his head and noticed.

"Sure, I'm coming!". He ran over to her, hopping over the others feet that were in the way. He stood under her, looking up sharply at her.

"I'm going to let you stay with us." Already Torren was happy with what she said.

"But-" Then Torren wondered what she was going to say.

"You have to obey Doon and I, or else you have to be taken to Sparks." Torren knew why she said that. He had hurt and annoyed her in the past, and he knew that if he got on her last nerve now, he would never see the "mole people" ever again. He happily agreed to what she said. But right then had the annoying started.

"What am I supposed to do for fun if I have to just sit here for hours?" aksed Torren.

Lina thought of an answer. "You should have thought of that before you decided to run away." She already began to feel like a mother. She didn't have a problem with it, since she had to take care of Poppy. She looked over to Doon, who was keeping Poppy happy by playing little games. She got better and wasn't sick anymore from when she was in Sparks.

Torren was swinging his feet back and forth in boredom. He looked all around the back of the truck. He then thought of something to do.

"Lina, can I hang my blanket on the back of the truck so I can have something fun to do?" Lina looked at him and looked outside.

"Fine, but don't do anything stupid." Torren grew a large grin. He grabbed his blanket off the ground and jumped out the back of the truck. His feet hit the dusty ground and he turned around and jogged up to catch the slow-moving truck. He walked with the truck as he tied his blanket to the little pin that was used to tow things in the past. He sat on his blanket and it worked. He was getting pulled along quite nicely. He smiled at the thought of this idea that he popped out of his little clever mind.

Lina looked at Torren as he sat there, happily. She noticed on another truck a child was copying Torren's "brilliant move". She wondered why he would want to come with them if he had tortured them so much.

"I like your idea!" yelled a kid from a truck next to Torren's.

"Thanks! I thought of it all by myself!" Torren lay proudly on his invention. He turned his head in the opposite direction and looked at the bushes on the other side, off the road. He dazed off as he stared at the bushes. They rustled in the light wind. _They're rustling too hard for it to be the wind, _thought Torren. He looked closer... closer.

He saw devious eyes in between the bright green leaves of the bush. Small and beady, yellow eyes with the phrase: You're finished, all over them. He stood up on the ground and quickly untied the blanket and ran inside.

"Lina! I saw something in the bushes! I'm not lying! It had little yellow eyes and it stared at me!" He grabbed Lina's waist in horror. She looked outside at the bushes. _She saw them too._ She ran up to the drivers and told them to make the ox go faster.

"Why would you want to do that?" asked the drivers.

"Just do it. I am the leader right?" The two men agreed and whipped the bulky animals for more speed.

Lina went outside with Torren for a moment to check the bushes. Nothing was there. The people began to have fear that something would soon happen. Doon came outside too.

"What are you looking at? Is there something there?"

"Yes. Torren saw eyes in the bushes. And I saw them too." Doon heard what she said and walked behind the bushes as soon as there was a clearing. Very soon, they had a person on each side of the bushes looking inside them. The people began poking there heads out of the trucks to see what was going on.

A pair of huge wolves jumped out of the bushes and at the second truck. All the people inside split outside the truck and ran in all directions. The drivers in the rest of the trucks stopped driving and jumped in the the truck, carrying wooden batons to tame the wolves. Men screaming filled the air and all the peoples people watched the truck and listened to the horrible things happening inside. That's when the other wolf came behind the very last truck and jumped on the drivers and scratched one of his hips.

It also caused the other man to jump out and run towards the crowd, which was a bad idea. The wolf left other man sitting in pain and chased the other. Doon ran over to help the man with the cut hip and Lina was stuck inside the crowd with a wolf running under everybody looking for the man who escaped. The first two wolves seemed to have taken enough time to try and distract everybody and fled into the bushes. The last one was lingering around the crowd, not seeming to care about the other people creeping away. The wolf saw the man hidden under a truck, behind a wheel. He sprinted full power towards the man.

The man was dragged away as the people watched, not knowing what to express on their faces. They all looked at the leaders of the people: Lina and Doon. They began to feel like nothing would have happened if they acted like actual leaders. That's what the people of Ember were thinking right at that moment.

It was _there_ fault.


End file.
